An Ordeal in the Unknown
by KeybladeDetweiler
Summary: While taking Greg home, Wirt stumbles across two other siblings lost in the Unknown. Twoshot.
1. Chapter 1

Wirt ran through the woods, holding an unconscious Greg over his shoulder. He had just freed his younger brother from the Edelwood tree that the Beast had been growing around him, and was now focused on trying to get the two of them home.

"Don't worry, Greg." He whispered to the boy, although he couldn't be heard. "We're going home."

He kept running, careful not to drop his stepbrother. He thought he heard footsteps from behind them and sped up, not wanting to be caught by whoever it was that might have been after them.

Suddenly, he tripped. On his way down, he barely managed to get Greg out of harm's way, and took the full impact of the fall for himself. After a moment, he sat up, checked his ankle to make sure it wasn't broken, and then turned to look at what it was he had tripped over.

It was another victim of the Beast: a girl, wearing a vibrantly colored oversized sweater. Wirt didn't recognize her. He thought about freeing her, but decided against it: he had one job right now, and that was to get Greg home. Nothing else mattered.

He stood up on his sprained ankle, carefully picked Greg up off of the ground and hoisted the small boy over his shoulder once again, and then slowly began to walk off in the direction he had been going before. He did not get very far, however, when he heard a voice yell out, "Mabel!"

He jumped a little in shock, and then looked back behind him. A young boy ran over to the trapped girl and began to try and free her. He violently pulled at the branches, but they held fast. The boy tugged and tugged, and tears began streaming from his eyes.

"Mabel, no! No!"

Wirt took a step towards the boy, and leaves crackled beneath his feet. The boy stopped what he was doing and looked up at Wirt.

"Please, help me!" he begged. "You've got to help me get her free! Please!"

Wirt thought about just running off, but chose not to. Instead, he carefully put his brother down, then went over and kneeled down beside the boy to help him free the girl. He grabbed a thin looking branch and began to pull at it. The boy was still yanking the branches roughly, yet it appeared to do nothing.

Both boys worked diligently to try and free the girl, but it didn't seem to be working. A chilling gust of wind blew by, and then a deep voice rumbled from the trees behind them.

"Your sister is too weak to go on. There is nothing you can do to help her."

Wirt froze when he heard the voice. He turned his head and looked behind him to see if it was really who he thought it was. He saw the white orbs that served as the creature's eyes and whispered, "The Beast."

"Huh?" the other boy turned from what he was doing to see what the older boy was talking about.

"Hello Wirt. I thought you and Gregory would have gone by now." The Beast greeted him.

Wirt glared at him, then quickly went to grab his brother so that the Beast wouldn't try to take him again.

The Beast turned his attention back to the other boy. "I have a deal for you." He said to him.

The boy wiped his eyes. "What is it?" he sniffled.

"I will set your sister free, but you must take her place."

"You mean…you want me to let you turn me into a tree?"

"Yes. So, what will it be Dipper? Leave your sister here and return home, or give yourself up to me so that she can go home?"

The boy, Dipper, sighed. "I'd do anything for her." He said quietly. He stood up and said, "Fine. You can-"

"Don't listen to him!" Wirt cut him off. "He's lying to you. He'll just leave her the way she is and turn you into a tree!"

"Don't interfere." The Beast growled, glaring darkly at Wirt.

Dipper stepped back. "Is that true?" he asked the Beast.

There was no answer.

Dipper turned back to his sister and said, "No way. I'll just keep trying to free her myself. And if I can't…well, _then_ you can have me." He went back to pulling at the wood surrounding his sister.

"Very well." The Beast said with a wave of his hand before vanishing into the forest.

Wirt looked at Dipper and sighed. "You know you're not going to be able to get her out that way." He told him. "You need something sharp, like an axe."

Dipper looked at him. "Well, where am I going to get an axe?"

Wirt looked back towards the part of the forest he had come from. If the Woodsman was still there, he could ask to borrow his axe one more time.

"I'll be right back." He told Dipper, before running into the woods.

He came back a few moments later with the axe and handed it to Dipper.

"Be careful." He said nervously; the boy looked rather young, and he didn't feel very safe giving him an axe.

Dipper hacked at the wood surrounding Mabel, careful not to strike her, and soon she was free. He carefully lifted her up and tried to carry her as best he could. He looked up at Wirt.

"So…how do we get out of here?" he asked.

"I was going this way," Wirt nodded in the other direction as he lifted Greg up over his shoulder again.

"All right; I'll follow you. What's your name?"

"Wirt. What's yours?"

"Dipper."

"Ok. Let's go."

The two boys, still carrying their siblings, headed into the woods to try and find their way home.


	2. Chapter 2

They trudged on. It had been a good hour since they had left the clearing, and there was still no sign of a way out. They eventually grew tired of carrying their still-sleeping siblings, and stopped to rest against a tree. They did their best to keep their spirits high so that the Beast would not come to claim them again.

Wirt stretched, lying back against the tree's rough bark, and put one arm around Greg. Dipper laid back a little as well, made sure Mabel was right beside him, and then reached into his vest for the journal he always had with him.

Wirt looked over at him curiously. "What are you reading?"

"My journal; it might have a way to get us out of here." The younger boy replied, staring intently at the book.

"What's in your journal?"

Dipper quickly sat up straight and eagerly showed him the book. "All kinds of things. Facts about monsters, paranormal stuff, secret codes, conspiracies…that kind of stuff. It's got almost all of the secrets of the town."

"What town?" The older boy asked, pulling his legs closer to his chest.

"Gravity Falls…" Dipper was suddenly confused. "I thought you would have known…I mean…you guys are from Gravity Falls, Oregon aren't you?"

"No. I've never heard of the place."

"Oh." Dipper sighed. "I guess this place is connected to a bunch of other places then. Not just Gravity Falls." He pulled a pen from his pocket and added some information to the page he was on.

"How did the two of you get here?" Wirt asked him, briefly glancing at Mabel as he changed the subject.

"We were walking through the woods, investigating something from the journal…and we got lost. I don't really remember what happened after that…I think we might have fallen asleep…but when we woke up, we were here."

"Hmm." The teen murmured to himself.

"How did you get here?"

"Oh. Well…it's kind of a long story."

"We've got time to kill. Go ahead."

"Okay then." Wirt cleared his throat, and began the somewhat long story of how he and his stepbrother had arrived in the Unknown.

Once he had finished, he sat there to give Dipper a little time to process everything.

"So…you ended up here because you couldn't tell a girl how you really felt about her?" Dipper laughed a little. "That's…wow."

"Yeah, I know." Wirt sighed. "It was stupid of me to run away from it all like that."

"A little, but…once you get back home, you should really tell her how you feel. Or at least try to, anyway. Have her listen to that tape with you."

"But…what about Jason Funderburker?" Wirt asked nervously.

"I don't know…maybe you could, like…sic your brother's frog on him or something?"

"What?"

"Never mind. Just…don't let him get to you, okay?"

"Okay…I guess. Hey; how do you know all about this kind of thing anyway? You're what…nine?"

"_Twelve_." Dipper corrected him, giving the teen a soft glare. "I know about this stuff because I had a crush too, not that long ago, and I had trouble telling her how I felt and stuff."

"How did it all end? Did you end up with her?"

"Well…I broke her and her last boyfriend up, and then later on I accidentally confessed everything I felt about her while she was right behind me." He sighed. "She said no. But we're still friends."

"Oh." Wirt looked down. "Well, your advice still sounds pretty good; I'll give it a try. Maybe it'll work for me."

"Good luck then." Dipper smiled at him.

Once dawn had arrived, the boys once again took up their siblings and continued their journey. Dipper continued to look through the journal, hoping to find at least one shred of helpful information.

"Nothing." He sighed, snapping it shut. "Looks like we're on our own."

Wirt suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked around. He peered ahead.

"What is it?" Dipper asked, slightly worried.

"Do you see that? Just ahead?" Wirt asked. "Water."

Dipper looked for himself and was just barely able to make out a body of water in the distance.

Wirt then tightened his hold on Greg and ran ahead, looking more determined than ever. Dipper, somewhat confused, held tightly to Mabel and followed him. The older boy finally stopped at the edge of the pool and looked across it. On the other side was a large stone wall.

"This is it." He said breathlessly. "This is where Greg and I fell into this place." He grinned. "We can finally go home."

Dipper smiled, happy for them, but then frowned. "That's great, but…what about me and Mabel? This isn't where we came in…we were in the middle of the forest, remember?"

"Maybe if you climb the wall, you'll end up back in Gravity Falls?" Wirt suggested.

"Maybe…but…what if this is just the way back into your hometown? What if there's a different entrance and exit for every place?"

"It's still worth a try."

"Ok. I'll try it; why not?"

After crossing the somewhat shallow pool, both boys, with their siblings firmly on their backs, began the slow ascension up the wall. Wirt, despite having Greg and his frog on his back, was just a bit quicker than Dipper, and he made it to the top first. He looked over the wall.

"Yep, there it is; the graveyard." He said with a nod. He looked down at Dipper, who was nearly to the top, and said, "Well…I guess this is goodbye."

Dipper stopped where he was. "I guess so; unless I was right about the whole "different entrance and exit for every place" thing." He said. Wirt laughed.

Dipper chuckled. "Well…thanks for helping me free Mabel from the tree." He gestured to the sleeping girl on his back. "If you hadn't helped me…the two of us would've been stuck here for good. Thank you."

Wirt nodded. "You're welcome." He replied. "Uh…thank you for the relationship advice?" He shrugged.

"Sure…I guess." Dipper shrugged back.

After one last goodbye, Wirt leapt down to the other side of the wall and back to his and Greg's hometown.

Dipper continued climbing up the wall, and once he reached the top, he saw a very familiar sight: the Mystery Shack. It was far off, but still in his line of sight, and it filled him with relief.

They were back.


End file.
